31st May 2010 - Katherine

Distance travelled 66kms

Stayed in Katherine.

The truck traffic on the road outside he campsite woke us early. Colin called R&M Motorcycles to ask if he could change his oil at their workshop. That was fine but they charged $20 for the privilege. The oil change went fine except Colin discovered that his screwdriver blades were missing - he probably left them behind in Karijini. The folks in Katherine are polite, but not friendly like in the other towns. The guys at the bike shop hardly spoke to me.

We had a late brekky at the Terrace Cafe and it was good, we'll go back there tomorrow. Colin was looking for Alan, who had gone to Woolies to buy a stronger deodorant, when a stranger came up and asked "are you looking for Alan Bateman?" Apparently he was a Les Brown a golf partner at Long Reef that had met Alan moments before. He recognised Colin because he looked like Alan - scary.

We had booked an afternoon cruise up Katherine gorge so rode out to the NP about 30kms outside Katherine in plenty of time. The cruise took in the first 3 gorges, but our guide told us there were 39 kms of gorges beyond that. The guide, Shayne was a local Jowyean aboriginal and bit of a comedian but not very forthcoming about the aboriginal myths and legends of the gorge. This is common with aboriginal guides: they are all reluctant to divulge too much about their private cultural heritage.

We got off the boat at the first rapids and walked through to a second boat and again to a 3rd gorge, which was the most spectacular. It was relatively narrow with high vertical walls of sandstone. The sandstone plateau was split into huge square blocks and the river turned at right angles to flow through the intersecting fault lines. We saw the 50m high cliff that Jeddah threw herself off in the film of the same name. At the end of the 3rd gorge we climbed up into a side valley to a waterfall and circular pool. Many of the tourists went for a swim, but not us. On the way back we looked for freshwater crocodiles but none were to be found. Our guide pointed out a rock formation that looked remarkably like the head of a crocodile and told us it was called Justin - Just in case they didn't see any real crocs - ho bloody ho! Good job we saw them at Lake Argyle.

On the way back from the Gorge a small wallaby ran out in front of Colin but turned back into the bush just in time. It was so close to Colin's front wheel he could hear its claws scrabbling as it turned. Unfortunately Alan was following close behind and he had to do a "stoppie" to avoid hitting the back of Colin's bike. When we got back we walked down to the river side to have a dip in a Hot Spring: very relaxing. We bought some pizzas for tea and crashed out without playing cards - too tired.

30th May 2010 - Lake Argyle to Katherine

Distance travelled: 522
Cumulative distance: 10702

Woke up early to a cloudy sky??? This is our "box" room. Breakfast at the Lake Argyle "resort" didn't start until 7.30am so we went for ride over the dam wall to take a few pictures. The dam wall is quite small and insignificant considering the amount of water it holds back. After breakfast we visited the old Durack homestead that had been saved from the flooding of Lake Argyle. They only managed to save the main building as the lake filled quicker than estimated (3 years instead of 5). The Duracks were an irish family that settled in the area in the late 1800s. They established Argyle downs, a huge cattle station which is now at the bottom of Lake Argyle due to the damming of the Ord river. At the homestead there was a family tree and we think we found Luke's father on it. According to the lady in charge of the homestead there are a lot of Duracks and they have regular getogethers in the area. We eventually left Lake Argyle at 9am and headed for Katherine in the Northern Territory. When we crossed the WA/NT border the time zone changed and we had to move our watches forward 90 minutes. This meant we had to put the hammer down to get to Katherine at a decent hour some 522kms away. The speed limit in NT is 130kph which helped. We were held up for half an hour as a road gang was resealing the road ... both sides at the same time??? The scenery we passed was quite spectacular with high ridges surrounding long valleys. This is still part of the Devonian reef. The weather cleared to a bright sunny day with a pleasant cooling breeze. We didn't stop much for photo opportunities because of our time constraints. We arrived in Katherine around 4pm and headed for the Tourist Information centre to check on tours to the Katherine Gorge. We booked ourselves on one for tomorrow afternoon. The motel we are staying at has access to warm springs which we will sample tomorrow after our excursion. We decided to buy our dinner at Woolies and have a barbecue at the motel. There were no cooking or eating utensils provided so we reverted to our camping kit. At least the barbecue worked OK. I had to use my camp stove to boil the sweet corn. Colin found a friendly green tree frog in our toilet cistern!! After dinner we caught up on our blog and Colin figured out the rules to the new card game, Cribbage we are going to play!!

29th May 2010 - Warmun to Lake Argyle

Distance Travelled 388 kms

Distance to Date 10180 kms

Left Turkey Creek RH with out having breakfast because of our bad experience the night before. We planned to stop at Doon Doon RH 90kms up the road. The RH was run by an amiable Dutchman who provided an excellent brekky. He also checked the weather radar for rain and told us it was all clear.

The countryside was dramatic with red cliffs and wide valleys made the more so by the early morning light. These were all part of the same Devonian Reef that we had seen so many times. We decided to go to Wyndham to see the Cambridge Gulf from a high point called Five Rivers Lookout. It was worth the trip. We could see The Ord, King, Pentecost, Durack and Forest Rivers drain into a wide estuary 50kms wide.

We met some of the participents in the GRR bike ride at the junction with the Northern Hwy. They told us that all the rivers were up especially the Durack River at about waist high. They saw a motorcyclist fall into it, probably the one we saw in Broome. We took a photo of the sign so we had one at each end of the GRR.

We headed on to Kununurra and from there to Lake Argyle Tourist Village. This turned out to be a rather down at heal place probably based on the construction camp built for the construction of the Ord River dam. We were just in time for a sunset cruise on the lake. We had a perfect evening for the cruise and saw lots of animals including a huge freshwater crocodile basking the sun that was at least 3m long. The boat master was very familiar with the wildlife on the lake. He took us to see some Rock Wallabies that were sheltering in a cave and by whistling he enticed them to come out. Colin had a dip in the lake but found that the boat was drifting away a bit faster than he was comfortable with and had to make big effort to catch up.

Lake Argyle is a huge body of water many times the size of Sydney Harbour. It was built to provide irrigation water for cotton and rice farms around Kununurra, but these failed. A 15 MW hydro generator was installed to provide power for the Argyle Diamond Mine and the local towns. The irrigation scheme was changed and now the main crop is sandalwood for the Indian market with a wide variety of fruit and vegetables.

The Durack family (of which Luke Durack is a great grandson) established the Argyle Downs station in the later 19th century in the Ord River valley after a heroic cattle drive from Queensland. Although they sold out in the 1950's their homestead was removed stone by stone when the lake was dammed. Unfortunately the lake filled faster than anticipated and they only had time to move the main house.

We had a snorer in the cabin beside us but it didn't stop Alan and Colin from sleeping soundly. We cross into NT tomorrow and have to put the clock forward 1 1/2 hours.

28th May 2010 - Fitzroy Crossing to Warmun

Distance travelled: 448

Cumulative distance: 9792

Had breakfast at the Kimberley Lodge in Fitzroy Crossing. Left nice and early at 8am. The weather looked a bit iffy but the rain held off thank goodness. Headed to Halls Creek 270kms down the Great Northern Highway. The scenery has started to change with some more hills and creek crossings which actually had some water in them; probably due to the recent rain. Arrived at Halls Creek about midday and had coffee and cake at the local bakery. We had been warned that Halls Creek wasn't worth stopping at because there was not a lot going on. We were directed to the Vistor Information centre where a guy called Mark told us all the great things we could do in Halls Creek. This is a statue of a bloke who push his mate in a wheel barrow for 300kms to get help. We wanted to book a scenic flight over the Bungle Bungles at Warmun (Turkey Creek) as all the roads in were closed. He said the dirt runway was out of action because of the rain. The runway in Halls Creek was sealed so he suggested we did the flight from there ... which we did. Clint was our pilot and he took Colin and I up in his single engined Cessna. Luckily the weather was clear at the altitude we were travelling at and we had a great view of the countryside. Clint gave us a running commentary on all the sights. The East Kimberley region is as big as Germany with a population of 35,000. Fairly thin on the ground. There are a lot of mines in the area mainly nickel and gold. The main agriculture is beef farming and the average size of the Cattle Stations is 150,000 hectares ... pretty big. We flew over a few to give us some idea of the size. When we got to the Bungle Bungles the views were spectacular from the plane. The rock formations were very impressive with deep gorges and sculptured formations. It is all part of the Devonian Reef which existed 350 million years ago and surrounded the then land mass of Western Australia. We flew down valleys that had been created by millions of years of erosion by the rivers. On the way back to Halls Creek Clint took us over the old town of Halls Creek. Only the old post office still stands as the rest of it was demolished and taken to the new site in 1957. The reason it was moved was the lack of reliable water supply, a common problem in Australia. They had sunk bores at the new site and found plenty of water. After we got back from the flight we jumped on our bikes and headed to Warmun at Turkey Creek which is a roadhouse 160 kms north. We arrived there to find very expensive fuel, room not ready and food that was pretty awful. In the evening we played cards in our never ending game and Colin decided to give up on it after I reached a lead of 250. We trashed the cards and tomorrow we will start with a new deck and a new game.

27th May 2010 - Derby to Fitzroy Crossing

Distance travelled 303

To date 9344

We were woken at 5:30 by the sound of rain on the roof of our cabin. It rained steadily for 2 hours as predicted. This is the final nail in the coffin of our Gibb River Road adventure. Colin was not about to venture onto a wet slippery dirt road despite the excellent performance of his Scorpion Sync tyres so far. We decided to cancel the second night at Derby and head for Fitzroy Crossing and the Geikie Gorge which we knew had a sealed road. Despite Alans aversion to FC, the Sutherlands had recommended a place to stay - the Fitzroy River Lodge and we booked a safari tent for that night.
The morning was hot and very humid after the overnight rain. We had brekky in the Jila cafe and had a look at the art on display. Then we rode down to the jetty to have a look at the tide coming in. We had a chat with a chap who was wearing only stubbies and had some very colourful tattoos and a mohawk to boot. He was Dutch and had come from Sydney without once paying for a camp site by using the free roadside stopping places.
We had to set off as we were getting very sweaty. We stopped for a photo op at the turn off for the GRR just to prove that we made it that far. Just down the road we stopped again to have a look at a hollowed out Boab prison tree used to hold kidnapped aborigines for the Broome pearl diving. Then we really had to get going before we turned into a pool of sweat.
The weather was closing in and soon enough it started to rain. Neither of us could be bothered to stop and put on our wet weather gear as it wasn't heavy enough, just drizzle. However Colin discovered later that the dye from his cheap Pakistani red leathers had leaked through onto his favourite Prince Edward Island tee shirt, which now had red shoulders.
It was only 300 kms to Fitzroy Crossing so we didn't have to suffer too long. We checked into our Safari Tent which was only 50m from the edge of the Fitzroy River. This was a tent structure placed on a wooden floor under a tin roof, It was designed to be easily removed as the camping area would be under water in the wet season floods. It even had an en-suite bathroom attached. We learned that there was a Geikie Gorge river cruise going at 3 pm so we rushed off to be in time.
On the way, a Wallaby ran across the road in front of Colin, but no harm done. While we waited for the tour to start we looked through the info at the Park gazebo. The rock formation which made up the gorge was part of a fringe reef laid down 300 million years ago called the Devonian reef. The Kimberley was the dry land and the reef surrounded it eventually forming a hard limestone range when sea levels dropped. This lime stone range also forms the Bungle Bungles and other features in the area. We got into two long barges connected together with one motor at the back. The ranger steered the barges and gave us a commentary about the Fitzroy River and the park. In full flood the FR pushes 30,000 Cumecs down the gorge and the water level is meters above its level that day. There were photos of the 2002 flood that showed the water completely over the Park gazebo. After the gorge the water spreads 30 kms wide and then turns west towards Derby and the sea. Its the biggest flowing river in Australia.
We saw the colourful walls of the gorge and plenty of birdlife but no Crocodiles because it was overcast and they only come out of the water to sun themselves. We did actually see the head of one in the water amongst some weeds. At the down stream end of the gorge is a large sand bank caused by the confluence of the May River and this is what keeps the water in the gorge year round.
We rode back to the Lodge keeping a careful eye out for more Wallabies. We went to the bar for a beer before dinner and sat out on the terrace where there were lots of the local Aborigines getting quietly drunk. One older woman engaged us in conversation and we had a friendly chat. The local tribe is matriarchial so it was normal for a woman to lead the conversation with strangers. She had been to Canberra so she must have been important. Later the bar manager came out to make sure they were only drinking mid strength beer, probably having been on the VB for most of the afternoon.
We had a meal in the restaurant and headed back to out camp for the night. Fitzroy Crossing had a lot of Aborigines and they probably drank too much, but they weren't bothering anyone and seemed to be comfortable mixing with the tourists. Myth number one busted - now to see what Halls Creek was like tomorrow.

26th May 2010 - Broome to Derby

Distance travelled: 220

Cumulative distance: 9031

I replaced the foam filter in my air intake which had 10,000kms of grot lodged in it. This should improve the performance of the bike and fuel consumption. Left Broome at 9am with much waving etc from Flynn and Jarrah. It was very warm and humid and just as we were leaving the outskirts of Broome it started to rain so we decided to don our wet weather gear. It was like riding in a sauna bath. This is very unseasonable weather according to the locals as it should be dry, low humidity and cool in the evenings at this time of year. According to the bureau of meteorology it seems to be raining over most of Australia right now which is great for the farmers but not that flash for Colin and I. It rained off and on all the way to Derby. The scenery on the way was fairly nondescript so I won't describe it. Derby is a one horse town whose main claim to fame is that it has the biggest tides in Australia. We booked into our cabin in the West Kimberley Lodge caravan park (no camping in wet weather) which had the setup of a 1950's southern USA trailer park. It was actually great value and had everything we wanted. We took a stroll down the main drag to the Tourist Information centre to find out about the weather situation on the Gibb River road. We were told that the Durack river was 700mm deep which is too much for our bikes. The road to Windjana gorge and Tunnel Creek might be opened the next day if there was no more rain. On the way we visited an old gaol built in 1906 to house aboriginal inmates which were manly cattle duffers. We also saw a hollow Boab tree which looked like it too was used as a lockup. The walk to the Tourist Centre nearly killed us in the heat so we stopped in a pub for a cool beer and a bit of aircon. The restuarant in the pub didn't look too inviting so we decided to go to Woolworths near the caravan park and buy something for dinner. We had a great barbecue at the caravan park washed down with a bottle of rough red. We made a valiant attempt to get our blog up to date but are still a few days short. During the night the rain started again and put the kybosh on our plans for the Gibb River road.

25th May 2010 - Broome

No distance travelled Standing on Broome Jetty

Alan, Colin and Morag

We were spending a full day in Broome to give us time to get the tyres changed and do a bit of work on the bikes prior to hitting the Gibb River Road. Also Colin was spending some time with Morag not having seen her for 10 days and then being parted for another 26 days ( start the violins!)

First stop was Small Engine and Motorcycle World. Colin had arranged for a new set of Scorpion Sync tyres to be sent up and Alan had posted his knobbies to Broome. However the GRR was looking decidedly dodgy especially for Colin on his VFR. After it was closed the previous Monday due to very heavy rain ( therebye completely stuffing up Morag's trip from Darwin) the rivers in the northern end of the road were running high. The Durack River was reputed to be 700mm deep. The road was open again but other river crossings were dicey and there were washaways to contend with. These are where the road has washed away leaving a deep ravine in the surface that can flip an unwary motorcycle! We decided that we weren't going to risk going the whole way and would just do the easier section to Mt Barnett Stn and come back to Derby or short cut through the Fairfield Leopold Downs rd to Fitzroy Crossing. So Alan decided not to change his tyres but to do an oil change.

The tyres were changed on Colin's bike even though the mechanic had put his back out. He wanted to use the brand new tyre fitting machine! He also provide new valve caps and topped up the front brake master cylinder. Alan got out his extensive tool kit but couldn't find the right bit to remove the sump plug or to attach to the oil filter socket. They eventually were found and he did the job like a pro. As we were leaving the workshop a breakdown truck arrived with a GS800 BMW on the back. The owner told us that it had just died on the GRR. Going through the Durack River with waist deep water might have had something to do with it!

We went into town to post Colins half worn tyres back to Melbourne. At one point Colin did a tight U turn in the main street of Broome and found that the new tyres were still very slippery and the front went away. He couldn't get his foot off the footrest because the Pivot Pegs serrations caught his shoe. By some miracle the bike rebalanced and Colin was spared the indignity of dropping the VFR in front of the shoppers. We took the bikes back to Nathan's house and met up with Morag who had been out running. Michelle kindly lent us her car for the day as she was feeling very lethargic after getting a sedative at the hospital the night before. So we set off to town to post Alans tyres back in the same packaging. Then met up with Kerry, a Dr from NZ who went with Morag to Cape Leveque after the original trip was abandoned. We visited an art gallery to have a look at a screen printed photograph of the rising moon reflected in the local mudflats called Stairway to the Moon. We wanted to get it for the Sutherlands for all their help. Then we had lunch and Colin had his first proper latte since leaving Perth.

We had booked a tour of the Pearl Lugger exhibit which had a couple of boats and a display room. The story of pearling in Broome was one of unmitigated greed and exploitation. Firstly of the aboriginal divers who were kidnapped and forced to dive for the shells and afterwards of the Japanese divers who used diving suits to go much deeper and ran the gamut of "the bends" when they resurfaced. It was the Mother of Pearl they were after in the shells not the pearls, but they were a bonus if they found one. We tried on one of the diving helmets after the presentation and they were so heavy and claustrophobic. After the Pearl show we went to Matso's Brewery to try the local beer including a mango beer.

Then it was back to the Sutherland's for Morag to pack her bag to fly back to Melbourne that evening. Nathan entertained Alan with some of his huge collection of games and puzzles. Nathan is a teacher and uses them in school and also with the kids he tutors. I'm afraid Alan was no match. He should stick to beating Colin at cards.

The weather doesn't look promising even for our curtailed ride down the GRR. More rain is predicted and there is a low pressure trough right across Australia from the Kimberley to Melbourne dumping rain on all and sundry. The locals assure us that the wet weather is most unseasonal, but as they had a very dry March, which is usually the wettest month of "The Wet" its not surprising.

24th May 2010 - Pardoo Station to Broome

Distance travelled: 482 kms

Cumulative distance: 8811

Left Pardoo Station bright and early and negotiated the 13 kms of dirt road with no problems. Had breakfast at Pardoo roadhouse which was probably the best roadhouse we have been to so far. The food was excellent and the service great. A couple of german backpackers served us. They were at the end of their visas and were heading back to germany in a couple of months. The road from Pardoo to Broome has a reputation of being boring and it lived up to its name. At the sandfire roadhouse we saw this amazing rig. It was a full size Winebago plus trailer with 4WD, Quad bike and generator. This guy took his comforts seriously!!! We arrived in Broome at approx. 3pm and "Mabel" found our hosts with no problem. We are staying with Nathan and Michelle Sutherland for the next two nights. Nathan taught with Morag in Melbourne back in 2003. They have two boys Flynn aged 2 and Jarrah aged 4. Jarrah took a lot of interest in our helmets. Michelle is expecting a baby in the next few weeks. Morag was out on the town with some friends from her ill fated tour. Michelle cooked up a great asian meal of curry and various vegetable dishes. We arranged with a local motorcycle shop to have new tyres put on Colin's bike and an oil change done on mine. I didn't change my tyres to the knobby tyres I set to Broome as it looked as tough we weren't going to make the Gibb River road because of the rain. We went down to the beach to see the sunset which was spectacular. We rode our bikes on to the beach. There were three groups of camels taking tourists along the beach to see the sunset. Nathan has all sorts of puzzles and games so we spent the evening trying to solve them. Colin could do them OK but my brain was in neutral so I struggled.

23rd May 2010 - Karijini NP to Pardoo Station

Distance 501 kms Cumulative 8329

We tried to leave early today so that we wouldn't be hit with a setting sun on the last 13 kms of dirt. We had brekky in the Eco Retreat and left the tents to dry off the morning dew. Big mistake as Alan flapped around as usual packing up his tent so we didn't hit the road until 9 am.

We had about 35 kms of dirt road to get to the Visitors Centre and a sealed road out of the park. We had set the bikes up the day before and the trip was uneventful and we seemed to have less vibration on the corrugations than the bus did the day before. Trouble was that I only managed an average speed of 43 kph which was too slow for the GRR where we were doing 300kms in a day. I'll just have to learn to go faster. We headed east out of the park and the scenery was magnificent with jagged hills and wide valleys.

We stopped at Auski RH to fill up and have a coffee and to inflate our tyres back to road pressures. Auski is a popular RH for traffic from BHP's Mt Newman mine and Port Hedland so there was plenty on offer if you wanted it. It was still quite cool so we were well rugged up on the bikes. The country varied from barren to really barren. One section just had broken rocks on the ground with no vegetation at all - like Mars! As we approached Port Hedland pools of water appeared in the river beds and the country greened up a bit. But as we got closer the landscape turned to industrial with railway lines and stockpile dumps appearing.

Colin wanted to avoid lunch at the RH so we rode into Port Hedland. One side of the road was a huge railway marshalling yard for the iron ore rail cars that eventually lead to Australia's biggest bulk ship loading facility. The other side of the road was a stretch of suburbia along the beach front. We eventually found the end at the port and a fancy 3 storey Esplanade Hotel made of limestone blocks with wide verandas and cast iron trimming. They had a courtyard restaurant with a red carpet. We ordered tapas and it turned out to be delicious and the equal of any tapas we've had in Sydney or Melbourne including soft shell crab. The trouble was it took ages to get served. that put us even more behind schedule for our ETA at Pardoo Stn.

We stocked up on steak and salad for dinner at the local Woollies and filled up with fuel and even got a fuel discount - felt like home! The other side of Port Hedland was even more industrial/desolate than coming in but we were soon on the open road. The country side was pretty flat and bleak until we started getting near to Pardoo Station, where the grass lands were lush and vegetation profuse. We turned off the main hwy and took the station road for 13kms on a wide smooth dirt road. I noticed a sign at the gate saying "No Bikes" which was a bit of concern, but Alan had pre booked the "donga" we were going to share that night. Apart from one soft sandy patch we travelled the road with no problems and found a large complex of buildings at the station including a shop restaurant, camp kitchen, fire pit, swimming pool and camping ground, which was pretty full. The place is popular with the mine workers on leave hence the restaurant which was really a mess hall.

There were the usual contingent of foreign backpackers staff. One French guy said he came over to Australia because he couldn't get work in France and it was really easy in WA and well paid. Our donga was a traditional single mens quarters from the mines built in a prefab group of 5 small rooms 3m by 2.5m There were bunk beds and a single bed in ours and room for not much else. The bed linen had a big picture of Casey Stoner on his title winning Ducati! We bought a bottle of wine and took our glasses to the fire pit where all the other campers were having pre-dinner drinks. We had a good chat including the usual dire warnings about the perils of the GRR. After dinner which we barbequed Alan re-asserted his lead in the cards. There was no internet so we could do the blog. I went to the restaurant to see if I could get a cup of coffee and the cook made up a tray with cups and saucers and a filter jug of coffee - very nice indeed. We had hoped to see the French MotoGP race but they only had Foxtel. Casey binned it on the 2nd lap we learned later.

I tried to get a shot of the setting sun but we were 7kms from the beach. Most of the campers were there for the fishing and drove out to the beach in their 4WD's. The no bikes referred to the ban on bikes going down to the beach - not that we would have made it as the track was soft sand.

22nd May 2010 - Karijini National Park

Rose to another beautiful dawn. We had breakfast at the Eco retreat restaurant. We have booked a tour of the gorges with Lestok tours. They were meant to pick us up at 8.30am. At 8.40am I inquired at the reception and found out that the bus had broken down on the way from Tom Price. There were three german girls from the Eco retreat who were also on the tour. We took the opportunity to set up our bikes for the ride on the gravel roads out of the Eco retreat tomorrow whilst we waited for the bus. The bus turned up at 9.30am. There were seven peiople on the tour, an english couple from Newark, three german girls, Colin and I. We hammered along the gravel road to our first stop at the Oxer lookout where three gorges meet. We looked down to the bottom .. over 130 metres deep..... quite spectacular. The weather was beautiful with a nice cool breeze making it very comfortable. The next gorge we visited was Weano which we climbed down into and walked along the bottom rock hopping to avoid getting out feet wet. The rocks were very slippery when wet so it was important to keep our feet dry. In the Karijini NP they rate the walks from 1 to 6 where 1 is a liesurely stroll and 6 you need rock climbing experience. The walk down the Weano gorge started as a 3 but when we got to a narrow channel to get to "handrail pool" it turned into a 5 !!! The guide warned us and we had the choice to continue or go back. Four of us made it to handrail pool where there were a bunch of young people (mainly girls) cavorting around the pool so it was worth the effort. We had lunch at the Karijini Visitors centre where we checked out the history of the area and Colin managed to leave his credit card at the souvenir shop. Luckily I was still in the exhibition and the assistant came walking through asking for Mr. Bateman. I should have kept the card until Colin wanted to use it again and see the look on his face but I didn't have the heart. After lunch we visited a viewing platform overlooking the circular pool in Dales gorge. Again it was approx. 130 metres down and there were a few people having a swim. Our guide said that the track into the gorge was pretty tough and we weren't gong to do it(thank goodness). The last place we visited was a great swimming location further down Dales gorge called Fern Pool. It was a fair hike to get there but it was worth it. There were warm water falls running into the pool. Colin went for swim but I didn't bother. Beside the Fern Pool was the Fortescue falls where the water from Fern pool cascaded over rock shelves down to another pool. Then we had to struggle back up to the bus where we collapsed and our guide took us home. The weather closed in and showers were predicted which is unfortunate as we are riding out tomorrow on about 33 kms of dirt which gets a bit slippery when wet.

21st May 2010 - Karijini Nat Park

No riding today.

We had our first night under canvas at the Eco Retreat Resort, which was cheating a bit as there was a good restaurant and bar at our disposal. There were safari tents available at $250/night but we thought $30 for a tent site more reasonable! Early in the morning we were woken by the howling of wild dingoes. We were told later that this was a mother dingo teaching her offspring how to howl in preparation for being booted out into the world on their own. Alan got up during the night for a leak and said the stars were amazing after the moon had set.

Colin decided after breakfast to start to file down his Pivot Pegs to fit onto the VFR. The Pivot Pegs were the same as Alan had on his BMW and Colin knew that the pivot pin would fit OK. After 20 mins of heavy work with the file Colin realised that this was a bigger job than he had hoped so he inquired if the Resort had a bench grinder in their workshop - they did and 30 minutes later the pegs were fitted. These pegs help to spread the pressure on the sole of the foot when you stand up on the pegs for rough road sections.

We had been told that access to Joffre Gorge was round the back of the resort so off we went in late morning and found a rather well hidden track which soon lead us down a side gorge into the floor of the main gorge just down stream of Joffre Falls, which only flows during rain storms. There was a long narrow pool of water in the base of the gorge and we decided to swim along it as we had brought our swimmers and towels. The sides were of highly layered iron stone and iron ore and stood vertically 70 m above us. The gorge was 10 - 20m wide and the water was comfortable. We could stop and stand on submerged ledges of rock along the way and decided to swim the whole 300m to the end. It was a great experience. We learned the next day that Joffre gorge leads out into the junction of the 3 gorges at Oxer lookout. The gorge was home to a large population of dragonflies of different size and colour. There were several tandems where two dragonflies latch on to each other and fly around making a relative loud buzzing noise. After our swim we had a look at the falls, which were dry.

We got back to the Eco Retreat in time for lunch and Alan ordered what he thought were 2 lunches of sandwiches and fruit. They came in neat little insulated back packs. I went to pay for them and discovered that we had ended up with 4 lunches at twice the price I was expecting. Each back pack was two lunches! Being gutsers we didn't notice. At least they came in handy for storing our rubbish which must be taken out of the Park.

We decided to take our first nana-nap of the trip and it was well worth while. A friendly camper came and offered us a couple of cold Carlsbergs after we had been amused by his attempts at squeezing a huge double inflatable matress into his van. This all recharged our batteries for a heavy game of cards after dinner, which we cooked ourselves on the Eco-Retreat barbeques. I had emu sausage, kangaroo and crocodile and Alan had a steak. I managed to peg Alan back to under 100 points in our card game saga.

Alan booked us into a guided tour for the next day to see the other gorges in the park. I called Morag on the landline public phone and heard all about her disasters with the AdventureTour through the GRR, which had been closed off due to rain.

20th May 2010 - Coral Bay to Karijini National Park

Distance Travelled: 664
Cumulative Distance: 7828

Woke up to a beautiful sunny day, then noticed big black clouds over the Indian Ocean. Luckily they stayed out there. Loaded up, had breakfast and left at 9am. We are now getting into the Pilbara region of Western Australia (iron ore country). The scenery has change and we rode through hills and valleys where the vegetation was a lot more interesting than before. Saw my first Emu of the trip ... luckily it ran away from me rather than to me. Also saw a Dingo disappearing off into the bush. We stopped to take pictures at various places on the way. One of these was a pile of rocks like a mini Olgas. we climbed to the top and could see all around the beautiful countryside. Stopped at the Nanatura roadhouse where we bought the most expensive fuel so far$1.88/litre and meat pie at $7!!! We also filled our 5 litre fuel containers in case we need them in Karajini. We get about 330kms from our fuel tanks and the 5 litres gives us an extra 80 - 90 kms. We arrived at Paraburdoo at 2.30pm and refuelled. Not as expensive as Nanatura. Paraburdoo is a small mining town and there is not much to it. We headed for Tom Price and reached the turn off for Karajini at 3.30pm. The scenery on this bit of road was quite spectacular as we rode through passes between the hills. The dirt road to the Eco Retreat we were camping at was heavily corrugated and our bikes were shaken quite a bit. Colin did well to keep his bike upright. Tomorrow We are going to set them up for dirt road riding ie low tyre pressure, off road foot pegs etc. We arrived at the Eco retreat at 5pm as we were only doing around 30kph on the dirt road. The sun was low in the sky and it was hard to see the ruts etc. Lesson one make sure you arrive at your destination in the mid-afternoon at the latest. I was still struggling to set up my tent as the sun went down. We dined at the restaurant which as very pleasant. The weather is warm and sunny and which is great. Tomorrow we are going to explore some of the gorges. There is no mobile reception only slow internet and a payphone so I am not sure when I will be able to post this entry., We have only just arrived back in civilisation so it will take a few days to get our blog up to date.

19th May 2010 - Coral Bay

Distance today zero

Total 7164 km

Today we woke with trepidation - would it continue to rain and be overcast? It turned out to be a fine sunny day with only a few clouds. We got up and after ablutions made our way to the local bakery for brekky. Afterwards we tried on our wet suits and flippers at Coral Bay Adventures in preparation for our boat trip to snorkel with the Whale Sharks. We had talked to a chap last night who told us that he had missed out on the Whale Sharks that day and that was the first day for a month they hadn't turned up.

We set off with a large party of 20 (including many from the day before). First stop was a nearby coral reef so that everyone could get their gear sorted. Alan and I soon realised that our snorkelling skills were pretty wick (the opposite of wicked). I nearly drowned by sucking water through my snorkel and had to be rescued by a nice sort and Alan was getting swept away on the current and was also rescued by another nice sort. We got ourselves readjusted and set off for a bit of coral gazing. I had to give up soon as I had a gut full of seawater and Alan continued to drift off in the current due to lack of forward propulsion.

The spotter plane went up to look for Whale Sharks and we made our way through the reef to the open sea. The swell was much greater and Elliot describe in graphic detail how we had to leap off in groups of 10, swimming like blazes to keep up with the Whale Sharks and then leap back on board while the other group went after the Whale Sharks-all in the considerably rougher open water. Alan and I were feeling a bit apprehensive at this stage.

We cruised around outside the reef waiting for the spotter plane to find a Whale Shark. These are the worlds biggest fish but unlike white pointers only eat Krill not people, like a whale. They can grow up to 18m long but are gentle giants.

No fish were spotted so we went back inside the reef for lunch. By this time many people were feeling a bit queasy due to the swell so lunch was the last thing on their mind. After lunch we did spot more snorkelling. I had sorted out my technique by this time including liberally smearing my moustache with vaseline to help seal the mask. I had a great time for over 1/2 hour watching the amazing procession for multi-coloured fish swimming around the coral. The coral was not very impressive as it was generally dull and grey, but it was like being in an aquarium. I tried to remember the colours of the fish I saw and when I got back to the boat looked them up in a book, but it was very difficult to remember them at all. I was thinking this snorkelling lark isn't too hard after all.

We continued inside the reef waiting for the call from the spotter plane, but it was pretty obvious that there weren't any to be found. We watched some pods of dolphins. Then the Captain said he could take us to a place where there were sure to be Manta Rays and we could swim with them instead. Suddenly it was all go and Group 1, which I was part of was sitting on the back of the boat ready to slip in and chase a Manta Ray. I was a bit late getting in due to having to grease up my moustache. The group shot off and try as I might I wasn't getting any closer and was starting to suffer cramp in my left leg. My new snorkelling technique went out the window and I started to suck in water again and generally get in a panic. The boat came round and they hauled me out of the water like a drowning whale!

Anyway it was a nice (if expensive) day out on the water. There was no way we could have coped with swimming with the Whale Sharks. Because none turned up we were given a free return trip valid for 3 years. Alan and I plan to come back but after we have learnt how to snorkel and swim faster!

More worrying is the weather. Rain continues to be predicted in the Kimberley, but drying up by Saturday. Hopefully this will be enough time for the GRR to be graded and reopened other wise we will be coming back to do that as well.

Tomorrow we head off to Karijini Nat Park for a bit of gorge swimming. There has been plenty of rain there too and the road into the park has been closed. I bought a pair of wet-suit bootees to help in the gorge exploring on the advice of a nice sort at the dive shop once she saw my black brogues!

We're learning a lot on this trip.

18th May 2010 - Kalbarri to Coral Bay

Distance travelled: 667

Cumulative distance: 7164

Rain welcomed us this morning at the caravan park in Kalbarri as we extracted ourselves from our bathing box. We chatted to the pool man about the weather and he assured us that it would improve the further north we went. Bloody liar!!!! It rained most of the way to Coral Bay. Travelling from the Overlander Roadhouse 240 kms north of Kalbarri we saw signs about the roads liable to flooding. There were large pools forming either side of the road so we put the hammer down before the tide came in. Every time a road train passed us in the opposite direction it was like riding through a carwash. Sunny Australia .... load of cobblers. The scenery consists of low scrub and little else. There were a lot of wild goats roaming around but at least they had the sense to keep off the road and not become road kill. We came upon a shrine to a young aboriginal who died we suppose of drink as it requested no drink be laid at it. The Gascoyne river is the main waterway in this part of the world and this is a picture of it in full flood????

We turned off the main Northwest Highway to Coral Bay and crossed the Tropic of Capricorn. It was late afternoon and kangaroos appeared on the road. I saw three and had to brake to a halt as they could jump in any direction. Kangaroos can do some serious damage to a motorcyclist. Colin saw an Emu cross the road between us. It was some distance away so there was no danger. We arrived at Coral Bay around 5pm and checked into the caravan park. We originally booked a campsite but because of the inclement weather and my advanced years we "upgraded" to a slightly bigger bathing box than Kalbarri. In the evening we went to the local pub for a quiet beer. Unfortunately it was happy hour and all the usual suspects were there getting stonkered on the cheap beer. Colin and I beat a hastie retreat to a cafe down the road for a quite meal. There we met a young couple from Fremantle. The husband wanted to join the Ulysses club but he thought he was too young at 46. We assured him that he could join as a junior member as the older members needed people like him to pick up their bikes when they dropped them. The weather up north in the Kimberleys is not looking too flash. It has been raining and the Gibb River road is closed. The forecast is not looking all that good at the moment so we'll have to just play it by ear. Tomorrow we are going to swim with the whale sharks off Ningaloo reef if the weather is OK so fingers crossed.